


Don't Stop

by jongdaekitten (orphan_account)



Series: Wherever You Are [1]
Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: 5 Seconds of Summer - Freeform, 5SOS - Freeform, Alternate Universe, F/M, Thief AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-20
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-09 17:00:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 19,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1990647
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/jongdaekitten
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A 5 Seconds of Summer AU, where the boys are master thieves, and two girls work with them...</p><p>What would you do if you woke up the morning after a party and overheard the household discussing the crimes they've committed? Join them, of course! This is the decision Rose makes, joining Iris as the only two girls on the team. 5 Seconds of Summer aren't a band of musicians, but a band of thieves. Ashton, the fearless leader, Michael, the brains, Calum, the getaway driver, and Luke, the runner and weapons expert, steal for a living, and a pretty nice living it is....</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Story

**Author's Note:**

> Important!!!!: when there is a number in brackets (like: [1]), play that song on this playlist while you read:https://soundcloud.com/princesseclaire/sets/dont-stop  
> (we wanted to try something different)  
> co-authored by my best friend :)
> 
> Inspired by:  
> http://5soaumemes.tumblr.com/post/91310867499/au-your-days-as-a-lower-middle-class-university
> 
> Also, there are guns and shooting in this, as well as references to sex, just a warning, in case that makes some people uncomfortable.

(Ashton’s POV)  
I woke up and looked at my alarm clock, 7:30 AM. I stood up, deciding to actually go to class today. I threw on my Pink Floyd tank that probably had too many holes in it, my skinny jeans, and laced up my converse. I threw a notebook and pen into a small backpack and headed off for the science wing. I was surprisingly one of the first people in the room, sat next to some purple-haired boy.  
“Never seen you before.” He leaned over to me with a small smile.  
I shrugged, “Class isn’t really my thing. I take the tests and pass so I can play football, that’s about it.” He laughed a little and the rest of the class came piling in. I kept dozing off during class, because geology is incredibly dull. I woke up with a start when I heard people getting up and leaving. I closed my book, yawning a little, and was putting my notebook away when I heard the teacher talking with the purple-haired boy.  
“Mr. Clifford,” I heard him say, crossing his arms. I tried to act casual, but I still wanted to hear what was going on, “What made you think that it would be a good idea to hack my computer and change all of my passwords?”  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, sir.” He mumbled.  
“I know it was you, Clifford. You’re the only student in my class who has a computer major. If you confess now, the punishment will be much less severe.”  
By now, I was walking towards the door. I stopped by the desk, and before I knew what I was doing, said, “Professor Sand, I know that it wasn’t him.”  
“And how do you know that?” He raised his eyebrow and turned his attention to me.  
“He’s was helping me study yesterday, so it couldn’t have been him, we were together all afternoon.”  
“Is that true, Mr. Clifford?” He asked. The boy nodded, “You’re just lucky you had Mr. Irwin here to vouch for you, now go.” He dismissed us.  
We were walking outside when he faced me, “Hey, thanks, Irwin.” He told me.  
“It’s Ashton, and you owe me.” I told him, smiling a little.  
“Michael.” He nodded, “And what were you thinking?”  
“I can’t tell you here, come back to my place with me, yeah?”  
-  
“What’s up?” Michael asked when we sat down on the couch in my small two-story house. It was so empty, ever since my dad gave it to me about a year ago.  
“I need your help, long-term.” I told him.  
“With?” He raised his eyebrows.  
“Okay, I know that it was you. It had to have been you that hacked into the teacher’s computer.” I leaned back into the couch, “I could use your skill.” I hesitated for a second, “You see, I’m a thief. Don’t freak,” I held up my hands as his eyes widened, “I only steal from scumbags that don’t deserve their money. But I could use your computer skills for research and hacking. What do you say?”  
“Would I get anything out of it?” He crossed his arms  
“We would split the money. I have to send about a quarter of it to my father, but I’ll give you half of what’s left.” I replied, “But keep in mind that it’ll be a dangerous job.”  
“What the hell,” He laughed, “I’m in. But we’re calling ourselves Team Rocket, like from Pokemon.”  
-  
(Luke’s POV)  
I loosened my tie and wiped my eyes before pushing open the door to the maths room. Since the door was at the back of the room, no one noticed me come in. I sat in the back of the room, next to a blonde boy wearing a red bandana and a red-and-brown-haired boy. I tried to pay attention to the teacher, but I just couldn’t. Everything reminded me of my mum, the woman who raised me, and loved me, and died because of my father. He gave her cancer and just left, left her to take care of me alone. A few months went by alright, but she was diagnosed with lung cancer.  
I shook my head, trying not to think about it. I lay my head down on the table and tried not to cry. I sniffled and glanced up to see the two boys looking at me.  
“You okay?” The one with the bandana mouthed. I shook my head “no” and he smiled sympathetically.  
“Time to take the test. Clear your desks.” The teacher suddenly announced. I got a pencil out of my bag and sat up as everyone put their books away after some last-minute studying.  
-  
At the end of the class, I turned in my test only half-finished, hoping the teacher would let me retake. I walked out of the room to find the two boys leaning against the opposite wall. When they saw me, they walked over to me.  
“What’s up?” The red-haired one asked.  
“Nothing.” I mumbled, looking down, which was stupid since I was taller than them anyway.  
“Do you need help?” The blonde asked me, concern in his eyes.  
“Not unless you can find me a good income and a place to stay.” I told them bitterly.  
“Actually...” The both looked at each other and smiled. The blonde asked, “Are you any fast?”  
“Really fast, actually.” I shrugged, “Why?” They both grabbed my arms and dragged me into an empty room.  
“I’m Ashton, this is Michael.” The blonde told me once he shut the door, “About a   
month ago, Michael and I started a... team, of sorts.”  
“What kind of team?” I asked.  
“We steal.” Ashton whispered, “It’s not the best way to live, but it’s a way to live. You   
can stay with us, we’ll split the money evenly, and we’ll keep you safe. I don’t know what’s hurt you in the past, but it won’t be able to hurt you when you have two guys backing you up.”  
I nodded, “I’ll do it.”  
-  
(Calum’s POV)  
As the sirens behind me grew louder, I knew I had to make a decision quickly. I drifted around the corner and was met by a tree. Quickly deciding, I got out and ran into a stranger’s backyard, hiding in their shed for about half an hour. When I finally heard the sirens fade, I opened the door a crack and saw three boys standing around the yard.  
“Man, I thought they had us for a minute.” A tall blonde that was all legs shook his head.  
“We’re too good, they can’t find us. I’m sure someone was just speeding.” Another blonde, only shorter, told him. I opened the door just a little more and slipped out, hiding behind the side of the shed. I tried to slowly back out of the yard, but I tripped over a rock.  
“What was that?” I heard a voice. I kept crawling backwards on my hands and knees, hoping they wouldn’t see me. I stopped dead in my tracks when the three boys were standing twenty feet straight ahead, looking right at me.  
“Who are you?” The shortest blonde asked.  
“No one.” I told him, standing up, “I... I hot-wired and stole a car. I needed a place to hide, so I hid in your shed. Just let me go, please.” I pleaded.  
“We aren’t going to let you go.” The boy with brown hair that had a small amount of red in it told me. My eyes widened.  
“Wh-what d-do you mean?” I stammered.  
“How many times have you stolen a car?” The blonde who was clearly in charge asked.  
“Too many times to count.” I shrugged.  
“And how many times have you been caught?”  
“Uhm, I went to juvie a few times before I was 16, but since then, that was only the second or third time.”   
“How would you like a job?”  
“Sounds great, man.” I told him, “When do I start?”  
“I like your attitude,” He laughed, “I’m Ashton, and this is Luke and Michael. You’ll be our getaway, we’re kind of thieves.” He whispered the last part, “You can move in as soon as you want.”  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Michael, I won the bet, just give me the $20, it’s not gonna kill you.” I followed my twin down the sidewalk to his home that he shared with his friends he never talked about.  
“Iris, just quit following me, I’ll give you the money tomorrow, I swear.” Michael sounded irritated, as usual.   
“Nope, you owe me and I want pizza tonight.” He opened the door to his house and a blonde haired boy with blue eyes was holding a gun. When Michael shut the door, I started yelling, “Oh my God, what the hell is going on?! Mike, why are you living with guys with guns?!? What the shit, you’re risking your life by living here!!”  
“Calm down, Ice.” He put his hands on my shoulders and gently turned me to face him, “They’re good to me, I swear. The truth is, we’re thieves. But we only steal from people who don’t deserve their money, so it’s fine.”  
“What did you just say, Michael?” A different blonde came into the room just then.  
“I’m sorry, she’s my sister, and she saw Luke’s gun.” Michael told him, hugging me to   
comfort me.  
“Well, now she has to join us, I’m pretty strict about it, you know.” The nameless boy said.  
“Okay, Ashton.” Michael said, then pulled me far enough away to look me in the eyes, “Do you wanna join us, sis?” I hesitated, “Come on, it’ll be fun!” He grinned at me. I nodded.  
-  
(Luke’s POV) [1]  
“Another dumb college party, another opportunity missed to make more money.” Iris sighed and sat down on the couch next to me.  
“Aren’t the other guys ready to go?” I asked her.  
She laughed, “Of course not, Mike is still on his computer, Cal just finished working on his car, and who knows what Ash is doing.” She ran a hand through her hair and walked over to the base of the stairs in our small 2-story house, “Guys, get a move on!” She sat down as Calum and Ashton came down the stairs, soon followed by Michael.  
“Ready to go?” Calum asked, picking up his keys. We all nodded and followed him into the garage. We got into one of the more beat-up cars and headed out.

-  
Two hours into the party, I was pretty damn drunk and making out with some girl named Rose on the couch. "Hey, what if we go back to my place?" I looked her up and down, which made her blush. She nodded and I led her out the door. 

-  
(Rose’s POV)  
I woke up the next morning, lying in bed next to Luke, wearing his shirt. I nudged him and whispered, “Where can I get some pants?”  
He smiled and kept his eyes closed, “In the room to the left is my friend’s sister’s room. She normally has clothes all over the floor.” He rolled back over and fell asleep again. I went to where he told me and stopped when I saw the door partway open and heard angry whispers.  
“I don’t care what I’m supposed to do, Ashton! I refuse to seduce another man while you guys get to have all the fun and steal the money in his vault!” I heard a girl and dared to watch from the crack in the door.  
“Come on, Iris.” I saw a boy with tan skin and black hair smile at her, “You know that you always get your cut, it’s not that bad.”  
“It’s not because I feel ripped off, it’s because I feel like I don’t get to do anything except let a guy stare at me while I wear a tight shirt!” She punched her pillow.  
“Calum’s right.” The other boy spoke up, “You always get your cut, and your job is just as important as ours. We wouldn’t have been able to afford this house, any of our cars, or even most of our tuitions without your help for the past two and a half years.” I let out a small gasp and the girl, Iris, looked over.  
“Who are you?” Iris stood up and slowly approached me, “And what are you doing here?” Her eyes narrowed as she pushed open the door. She noticed what I was wearing and shouted, “Luke, come here!”   
“I just wanted some pants, to be honest.” I smiled nervously. She bent over, picked up a pair of green sleep shorts, and tossed them at me. I put them on and Luke slipped past me and into the room.  
“What’s up?” He asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. At this point, there was another boy here, standing behind me in the hall.  
“Who is this and why is she here?” The boy who had to be Ashton asked him.  
“We were drunk, what does it matter?” He sat down on the bed.  
“She heard our plans.” Calum told him quietly.  
“Oh.”  
“Yeah, oh.” Iris snapped, standing in the corner with her arms crossed, “Come in here, and Mike stand at the door.” She looked over at Ashton, “May I?” He nodded and I was confused, “What’s your name?”  
“Rose.” I replied quietly.  
“I’m going to give you two options. One, you’re under our constant watch so you don’t tell anyone about us. And if you do, you’re a dead girl walking. Two, you join us. And you get a cut of our money.”  
“Is that even a choice?” I asked.  
“I thought the same thing, Rose. But trust me, being in this business is difficult. We’ve almost been killed dozens of times, and that’s just in this past year, we can’t get attached to anyone, we can’t let them get into this too, and you have to steal.”  
“Oh, that is hard.” I whispered, “But, I have nothing to lose. I’m in.”  
[2]  
(Iris’ POV)  
“I’m so excited for this.” I grinned at Calum, “I love how freaking dumb Ashton and his rules are.” We walked down into the briefing room in the basement. We sat down next to Michael and Luke, sitting on the floor with our backs against the wall. Rose was standing on one side of the big table and Ashton was standing in front of the giant monitor on the other side.  
“So, we have some rules here, and when we’re out.” Ashton told her. He turned to me, “Is she taking your main role?” I nodded and he turned back to Rose, “Okay, so you get three sets of rules. House rules first. First rule, no romantic relationships.” I glanced at Cal with a guilty smile, “So, that Luke thing was a one time deal. Second rule, thanks to Iris, is keep your room clean. She doesn’t even follow it.” He shook his head and I laughed, “Third rule, we are not your parents, you are responsible for your own snacks. Next, no guests without a two plus hour notice. These last two are very important. If you remember nothing else, remember these.” He came to stand behind the table and leaned against it, palms pressing into it, “Tell no one, and I mean no one about what we do, and do not, ever, get your family involved.”  
“Hey, idiot!” Michael shouted, “That rule went out the window. Twins.” He pointed between me and him and Ashton sighed.  
“Okay, we have an exception, whatever.” He turned back to Rose, “Mission rules. One, don’t do anything to jeopardize the mission. Two, no girls can go during,” He shifted his feet a little uncomfortably, “That time of the month.” I laughed at how stupid he was being about PMS, “Calum,” He pointed to him, “Isn’t allowed to leave until everyone that can make it is in the car. And if someone gets caught, we’re to leave them. I know it sounds cruel, but it’s for the safety of everyone else. Now, since you’re the bait, you have special rules. You must do everything you can to keep the mark out of the way and clueless. Don't ever come within eye/ear shot of the rest of the team. Under no condition can you have sex with the mark. Please, don't drink or eat anything the mark gives you unless you watch them make it or you made it. And the absolute most important thing, trust me Iris can tell you, always have an easy way out.”  
“That’s a lot to take in.” Rose said, wide-eyed.  
“Also, we have code names that we use during missions and you’re going to need one.” Mike grinned, “I’m Apollo, Iris is Artemis, Cal is Hades, Luke is Hephaestus, and Ash is Zeus.”  
“I’m Aphrodite.” Rose immediately smiled.  
“Wait, since she’s taller than me, do we get to go shopping?” I suddenly asked, smiling.  
“Yeah,” Ashton sighed, “Take one thousand from the cabinet and go.” I jumped up and grabbed Rose’s wrist, dragging her all the way to my room.  
“Get dressed, we need to buy you some eye-catching clothes.”  
“Eye-catching?” She raised her eyebrows.  
“It sounds better than slutty.” I shrugged, opening my overflowing closet to get dressed.

(Rose's POV)  
"I have to wear this stuff?" I pulled a very tight, red, dress off the rack and held it up. Iris looked at me and nodded. I had never been allowed to wear anything shorter than my fingertips when I was with my parents, and even when I came to college it was still a weird transition. But this by far has to be the shortest, tightest, most "eye-catching", thing I have ever worn.   
"How about this one?" Iris pulled another dress off the rack. I made a face, this one was even shorter. "Just try it on, god damn." She laughed. We both went to the dressing room for me to try on the dress. Once I squeezed myself into the dress I walked out to the three way mirror.  
"Damn, I look good." I winked at myself, causing Iris to laugh.   
"It's one of the perks about this job, you always get to look good, now the bad part is learning how to sprint in these." Iris held up heels that had to be at least seven inches, plus pumps. 

(Iris’ POV)   
“Iris, I miss you.” Calum snuck into my room in the middle of the night, careful not to wake Rose, who was sleeping on the air mattress until we could buy another bed.  
“Shut it, you sap.” I laughed quietly and felt the weight shift on my bed and felt his strong arm wrap around me.  
“Guess what today is.” He whispered, glancing at the clock.  
“What?” I asked, pretending I didn’t know.  
“Our two year anniversary.” I couldn’t see him, but I could hear the smile in his voice.  
“I love you Cal.” I pecked him on the lips.  
“I love you too.”  
-  
“Iris, time to wake up!” I heard Ashton yell and I heard the door open, “Calum, what the hell are you doing in here?”  
“Uhh....” He sat up and ran his hand through his hair, “Well, I was sleeping. What are you doing here, Ashton?”  
“Trying to wake up people, now why don't you drop the attitude and tell me what's really going on?"  
“He had a nightmare.” I quickly made up, “He told me that he had a dream where I died and he wanted to make sure I was okay, and then we were talking for a little while and fell asleep. That’s all, Ashton, I swear."

-  
(Ashton's POV)  
“Alright, team,” We all stood around the table in a semicircle, facing the screen, displaying a map of the city. Mike stood a bit off to the side, holding a tablet. I was standing next to the screen, addressing everyone, “This mission is a bit complicated. Michael is working on getting an invitation to an exclusive party in a gated community tonight. This guy is practically as rich as Bill Gates and Oprah Winfrey combined, but he has a lot of security. Which is why I’m thankful for the Clifford twins.” I smiled at them, “We’ve done really well on everything we’ve done so far, so I’m sure we can do it again.” I explained the location of the house and Michael looked up with a grin.  
He tapped a few things on his tablet and a party eVite was displayed over top of the map, “I got us in. Party of six, invited for contributions to his company.”  
“We didn’t contribute.” Iris replied.  
“He doesn’t need to know that.” Michael told his sister.  
She laughed, “Wait, do I get to get dressed up?” I nodded and she grinned, “I love dresses. Come on, Rose, let’s go get all dolled up!” She grabbed the other girl’s hand and dragged her to their shared room to get ready.

-  
(Luke’s POV)  
When the girls came downstairs that night, both mine and Calum’s jaws dropped. They both looked amazing in their v-neck mid-thigh length dresses, Rose in black and Iris in deep purple, but with Rose’s neckline plunging down deeper than Iris’, for obvious reasons. Michael and Ashton came downstairs a moment later and Ashton snapped Calum and I out of our staring.  
“Ready to go?” He asked, buttoning his suit jacket.  
“Hold on, let me get my knife.” Iris took a key from the couch cushion and unlocked the drawer. She pulled her pen knife and a few bobby pins out of the drawer and relocked it, then returned the key, “Bobby pins in case we have to pick any locks.” She smiled and shoved them in her hair.  
“Why do need a knife?” Rose asked, alarmed.   
“You never know when you need to defend yourself.” She shrugged, sticking the knife disguised as a pen in her bun, “It’s probably a good idea for you to have one too, Rose.”  
“I don’t own one.”  
“I have an extra, here.” She got her small back-up knife from behind the TV and walked over to Rose, “Put this in your boot.” She handed it to Rose and the latter tucked the knife into her shoe, tip up so she wouldn’t cut herself on accident.  
“Alright, Luke grab your gun and let’s go.” Ashton said. I grabbed my handgun from the silverware drawer in the kitchen and put it in the pocket on the inside of my jacket. Calum grabbed the keys to the Ferrari and we all piled in. Ashton turned on the radio to the alternative station and turned it up. We sang and danced in our seats until we got there.   
[3] We all got out, the valet holding the door open for Rose and Iris, and we gave him a tip then left him with the car.  
“You have the locator chip in the car, right?” I heard Iris ask Calum quietly. He nodded and we went inside, Michael showing the guy at the front door our invitation on his phone as we walked by.  
“Give it about an hour.” Ashton muttered to us, and I walked over to the bar with Rose. Ashton and Michael went over to a table and sat down, and Iris and Calum went onto the dance floor, the live band was playing a slow song. They spent the next hour dancing together, while I talked to Rose and Ashton and Michael sat there, talking to whoever sat down next to them.  
“There he is.” I whispered in Rose’s ear when the host sat down on her other side at the bar. He was about 30 years old, and looked relatively young for his age. He reminded me a lot of Leonardo DiCaprio. I got up and went over to Ashton and Michael, the three of us watching her. A few minutes later, he started talking to her and Calum and Iris went up the stairs. We waited a little bit and followed behind them. We all met in the empty hallway and I asked, “What do we do first?”  
“Get in his library.” Ashton whispered, “He should have a key in his desk, and the vault should be at the end of the hall. Iris, got your pins?” She nodded and took a bobby pin out of her hair. We all kept an eye out while she picked the lock.  
“Dammit.” She muttered.  
“What’s wrong?” Calum asked.  
“Broke the bobby pin, here put it in your pocket.” She handed the broken pin to him and he shoved it in his pocket while she got another one out of her hair and tried again. She got it in a few seconds and opened the door slowly. She straightened up and we backed up towards the nearest opened door, just in case.  
“Oh, hi, sorry.” We heard her play innocent, so we backed into the dark guest room, “I guess I’m lost. I’m looking for the ladies’ room.”  
“I’ll show you the way, ma’am.” We heard a deep, gruff voice.  
“And leave this place all alone?” She asked as casually as possible.  
“It’ll just be a minute or two, the restroom is right downstairs.” We heard feet moving and a door close. They passed by us and I hurried inside. The library was massive, but luckily the desk was against the wall adjacent to the door. I opened the longest drawer that ran across the middle of the oak desk and grabbed the key. I walked back as quickly and quietly as I could to the boys and we waited quietly until the guard slammed the door to the library shut. We snuck downstairs, each a minute or so apart, and joined Iris, who was standing by an empty table.  
“I think that only two people need to go.” Calum whispered, “We could play up the horny teenager bit so people think nothing of it.”  
“Well, since it was your bright idea, you get to go with Iris then.” Ashton replied, “But build up to it. You have twenty minutes, then I need you to disappear.”   
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
Calum and I started off with slow dancing really close, then we started to really lay it on thick. He kept kissing me on the lips, and I kept giggling. During one slow dance, he started placing kisses down my neck. I saw people start to glance at us and I closed my eyes, pretending I was enjoying this more than I was-- but that was only because we were about to steal from the host. He took my hand and led me away and up the stairs with a smirk. I bit my lip, pretending to be a little nervous and soon the crowd was out of sight. We moved as quickly and quietly as we could down the hall. We took a left at the end and saw the vault.   
“Mike,” I spoke through my earpiece to my brother, “Any cameras?” I waited a moment and heard a soft, “No.” I took the key from Calum and carefully unlocked the door. I slipped inside, with Calum standing guard outside. I looked around the vault that was no bigger than my closet, and all I found was a small envelope, sitting on a pedestal in the middle of the room. I grabbed it and held it close to my thigh. I slipped back out the door and shoved it in Calum’s pants pocket.

-  
(Ashton’s POV) [4]  
“What’s it say?” Iris asked eagerly once we were all home and changed. Well, except for me and Calum. We both went to the briefing room immediately and opened up the envelope. I read the piece of paper over and over, waiting for everyone else to come downstairs, “Come on, Ash! Read it!” She jumped up and down, her bun bobbing as she did so.  
“Mr. Stanley,” I read, “Enclosed is the information for our... exchange. Meet me by the busted train car at midnight on Tuesday the 18th, and I will give you the amount you asked for in exchange for our agreed upon item. Thank you,” I paused, “The name is just a symbol. It’s a triangle with an x in the middle.” We all looked up at each other, knowing this could be the most exciting job of the year.  
“So, we have three days until Tuesday. Looks like it might be time to brush up on our fighting skills. Who knows what kind of back-up this guy might have, especially somewhere abandoned.” I told everyone.

-  
(Rose’s POV)  
My biology teacher dismissed the class and I made my way to the cafeteria. I filled my plate as much as possible with spaghetti and went to find the boys and Iris. They were sitting at the corner table and I sat across from Luke, next to Iris. I started eating and glanced up to see Ashton and Calum looking horrified.   
“They’re just wondering how a small teenage girl can eat so much,” Iris laughed when she saw my confused look, “Even though I eat just as much.”  
“How was biology?” Luke asked me, setting down his soda.  
“Horrible, we had to dissect a frog. I almost puked, but then the bell rang. So I was saved.”  
“You’ll never believe what we got assigned in film class today.” Iris spoke up, grinning.  
“What?” Michael asked.  
“We have to make a movie preview for a b-rated hero film.” She grinned, “And I need four superheroes.” She looked at all of us expectantly.  
“All I know is, Ashton’s name better be Smash or I’m suing you.” I laughed.  
“Yes, I love it!” Iris grinned, “Could you help me with costumes and backdrops?” I nodded and she turned to Michael, “I need your help with the tech-y stuff.”  
-

(Iris’ POV) [5]  
“Okay, let’s go.” I whispered, crouching behind the abandoned train station wall. I heard affirmations in my earpiece and we all went to our set locations. I pulled out my knife, making sure my gun was still in my pocket, and snuck over to the big rock less than twenty metres away from the train car where the man would be waiting and I kept a lookout while waiting for Ashton’s signal.

(Rose’s POV)  
I ducked behind the trash bin that was about fifty metres from the train car and waited, silently hoping that no one would see me. 

(Calum’s POV)  
I climbed as quietly as possible into the broken down car, missing it’s driver’s side door. I held my gun out straight, but kept it down low so it couldn’t be seen, waiting for Ashton’s signal.

(Michael’s POV)   
I carefully pulled out my SMG from my position against the wall. I peered around it, making sure the train car was in sight at all times. I held my gun firmly, ready to raise it and shoot at a moment’s notice. I could barely see Ashton from where I was standing.

(Ashton’s POV)  
I squatted down behind a large boulder that was right next to the train station and waited for just the right moment to signal to my team.

(Luke’s POV)  
I took a deep breath and approached the train car, hand on my gun in the pocket of my hoodie. I tried my best to look like I belonged, and stood next to the abandoned train.  
“You here on Mr. Stanley’s behalf?” I heard a deep, rough voice ask. A man in a dark hood approached from out of nowhere, carrying a metal briefcase, cuffed to his hand.   
“Yeah, I’m here for the money.” I told him.  
“Not without what I asked for first.” He replied, holding out his hand.  
“He didn’t give it to me.” I shrugged, “You’ll have to take that up with him. But, if I don’t get that money today, I’m fired.”  
“I don’t give a shit.”   
“Please, sir...”  
“Enough of your bullshit!” He suddenly shouted and moved to get his gun. But I was faster. I put a bullet in his foot and bolted towards a safer place, “No you don’t!” He yelled, running after me.

(Rose’s POV)  
My head shot up when I heard guns being fired. When I finally looked around I saw some guy running after Luke, gun in hand. "Luke! No!" The shrill scream had escaped my mouth before I even thought about it. My hand curled around my gun and I pulled it out from the pocket of my jacket, aimed, and fired two shots into the man’s chest. Having realized what I had just done, I threw my gun down and felt hot tears fall down my cheeks.  
“Rose!” I heard Iris shout. It sounded far off, but I could vaguely see her running towards me. I felt her put her arms around me, in a sort of hug, as I heard myself scream. I was detached from myself. I couldn’t believe what I had done. I had killed a man. 

(Iris’ POV)  
“Rose, it’s fine. He was a shitty person anyway.” I tried to comfort her, but she wouldn’t listen. Luke came over and pulled her off of me and wrapped her in his arms, shushing her and running a hand through her hair. She had quieted down a lot when Calum came over.  
“Could you get the briefcase?” He asked, pretending to saw off his wrist. I nodded and took my knife to the body’s wrist. I gagged when all the blood squirted out of his arm and had to throw my knife down to run over to a bush and dry heave. Calum rubbed my back until I felt better, and the boys somehow got the two train-wrecks (no pun intended) of us girls into the car.

\-   
(Luke’s POV)  
I woke up to another scream from Rose, who had been having nightmares all night. I rolled over to go back to sleep when I heard a fist on my door. "Come in," I groaned.  
"Luke, none of us are sleeping, can you calm her down?" Ashton asked.  
"Yeah, send her in here." I heard footsteps leave and then come close again.   
"Luke?" A small voice asked.   
"Yeah Rose, I know, come here." I moved over for her to lay down. She snuggled up close to me.  
"I'm a killer." Rose half cried. I couldn't tell her no, because she is right. We both are. All of us are.  
"It's going to be okay." I wrapped my arms around her in a hug, then pulled away. Killing, that's breaking the law. If I break a law, I can break a rule. So I did, and I kissed her. Rose was surprised at first and then slowly melted in and began to kiss back. I pulled her closer until we were so close our legs had to overlap one another.  
"What if Ashton finds out?" She pulled away and pressed her forehead to mine.  
"He won't, now go to bed Rose, I'll be here if the bad dreams wake you up."   
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Iris, come on!” Michael stuck his head in my door, “We’re all gonna watch a movie!”  
I sat up and rubbed my eyes, “This early in the morning?”  
“Yes, now come on!” He left my door open and I heard him run down the stairs. I grabbed my fuzziest blanket and went downstairs. The boys were all sitting on the couch, with room for me between Calum and Luke. I plopped down between them and threw my blanket over top of myself. Calum stole half of it and smiled at me cheekily. Ashton stood up and looked through the DVDs stacked up by the TV. Calum grabbed my hand under the blanket and squeezed it a little. I smiled at him and laced my fingers with his, hoping Ashton wouldn’t notice since they were under the blanket.  
“Ashy,” I yelled, “Let’s watch Aladdin!” He turned around and just shook his head. I pouted, “Please?” He looked at the other boys and I pouted at them too, they couldn’t resist how adorable I was. They all sighed and agreed to watch Aladdin. Ashton put the DVD in and sat down on the other side of Luke. The movie started and I found a comfortable position to watch in, AKA borderline cuddling with Calum.  
When the movie was over, we just turned off the TV and talked for a while. Mikey was in the middle of telling a hilarious joke when I looked up to see Rose standing at the foot of the stairs, looking heartbroken. She ran into the kitchen and I untangled myself from my blanket and went after her.  
“What’s wrong?” I asked, seeing her looking at a bowl of dry cereal, frowning.  
“I don’t fit in with you guys, I knew I wouldn’t. I don’t know why I’ve fooled myself.” She dropped the piece of cereal she was twirling in between her thumb and index finger.  
“Oh, come on, Ro!” I sat down across from her, “You haven’t been fooling yourself. I just don’t think the boys, other than Luke, have completely come around to you yet. Cal’s my best friend,” I lied easily, “And Mikey is my brother, I can talk to them if you want. Ash is just like that with everyone. He’s very cut off from emotional attachments. But, I promise, they love you, even if they don’t know it yet.”  
“Thanks.” She looked up at me and smiled a little.  
“Now, come on. If you pick a movie, I’ll pout until Ash says we can watch it.” I took her by the hand and led her back into the living room.

-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Mikey!” I yelled, calling my brother into my room. I set my laptop down at the foot of my bed and he walked in.  
“What’s up?” He sat down next to me.  
“So, I was curious about one of Ashton’s rules,” I whispered, “I decided to do some research and you’re going to have to look at what I found.” I handed him my laptop and he looked through the various tabs I had open. The first one was a picture of Ashton and a really pretty girl, laughing with their arms around each other. The next tab was the girls profile, Hazel Townsend, age twenty. My last tab was a picture of a ransom note her family had sent to the police two years ago. She had been kidnapped, and I bet Ashton had blamed himself.  
“Is she still alive?” Mikey asked my quietly.  
“I don’t know, but we have to track this and find her. For Ashton.”  
“Alright,” He shut the laptop and ran a hand through his hair, “I’ll find out where we need to go and I’ll tell Ashton that it has a huge payout.”  
“Thanks, brother.” I hugged him and he cringed away from me, “You still don’t like hugs.” I pouted. He laughed and left my room.  
-  
(Ashton’s POV)  
“Guys, I have something!” Michael shouted and we all met in the briefing in the room, “So this one has a huge payout.” He explained, “This guy is massively wealthy, but he stole all his wealth. Oh, the irony of stealing a thief’s riches.” He smiled at Iris and directed our attention to the screen, “For some reason, this idiot has no security cameras except for one right outside the front door, and a few in the main hallway, he has no guards and only two dogs, and our payout is in a giant vault in the basement.” As he said each thing, he showed us first the security camera, and then a blueprint of the house.  
“What say you, Zeus?” Iris smiled at me.  
“Let’s do it.” I replied, “It’ll be a little tricky, but we can do it.” I turned to Rose, “We won’t need bait this time, so how do you feel about sneaking and stealing?” She nodded and I grinned, “Great, we’ll go tomorrow night.”

-  
(Iris’ POV) [6]  
The lock clicked and I took the lockpick out of the door with a satisfied smile. We all walked in the room and looked around. Mikey took his phone out and with a few taps the red lights on all the cameras stopped blinking. We snuck downstairs and opened the vault.  
“Where’s the cash?” Ashton’s voice seemed angry.

(Rose’s POV)  
A hand clamped around my mouth and drug me backwards to the edge of the room.  
“Where’s Hazel?” Mikey muttered a little too loudly. Ashton’s eyes open wider, and he turned to say something to him when I heard a gun click and I realized that gun is pressed to my temple. Suddenly all eyes were on me.  
“Drop your guns. Now.” The man set on killing me yelled. Everyone slowly lowered their guns except Luke, who kept a steady aim on the man.  
“Luke, drop it, now.” Ashton demanded. Two other men walked in and stood on either side of the man holding me. The more time Luke took to lower his gun the harder the gun was being shoved into my temple. As a third man arrived everyone else slowly picked their guns back up. A shot rang out from one of the sides and suddenly it was an all out firefight. The man holding me hostage must have gotten shot somehow, somewhere, by somebody. Luke ran up to me and made sure I was okay, then proceeded to hand me another gun. I refused to actually fire it and kill another person. Once everything died down the rest of us stood up.  
“What the hell was that?!” Ashton stormed over to Luke, who still had me protectively behind him.  
“What the hell was what?” Luke matched Ashton’s tone and volume exactly.  
“Putting all of us on the damn line for some stupid girl like that.” I cringed at being spoken of like I was an object.  
“I was trying to save her, you fucking idiot. She’s only 18.” Luke took a step closer to Ashton.   
“So are you. Why do you care about the bait anyway?” Ashton pushed Luke back a couple steps.

(Iris’ POV)  
“Hey, where’s Calum?” Michael suddenly interrupted.  
“Don’t try and change the subj--” Ashton started, then I looked behind Rose.   
[7] Oh my God!” I yelled, covering my hand with my mouth. I ran over to Calum, who was lying on the ground, a hand pressed to his stomach. I knelt down next to him and gingerly moved his hand. His shirt was covered in blood, so I slowly and carefully lifted it just enough to see a bullet wound, “Calum,” I whispered, “Oh my God, Cal...” I looked up at Ashton, who was standing above us, having forgotten the argument for now, “Call the God damned ambulance!” I shouted at him. He snapped out of his shock and pulled out his phone and dialed 911, walking away. I put my hand over the wound in my boyfriend’s stomach and tried to hold back the tears that were threatening to spill. I looked into Calum’s eyes and they fluttered closed, “No!” I screamed, holding him close, “Cal, no, please!” Michael squatted down on the other side of Calum and held two fingers to his wrist.  
“He still has a pulse, Ice.” He leaned over and kissed my forehead. Mikey was the only person that knew about Cal and I. He stood up and went over to Ashton, leaving me alone with Calum.  
“Calum, please, I need you.” I ran my hand through his black hair, “I love you.” I dropped my head down so that my forehead was nearly touching his. Since no one was watching, I let the tears fall. A few minutes later, Ashton came over with two men carrying a gurney. Ashton took my hand and pulled me up while the men put Calum on the gurney.  
“We can have one person come in the ambulance, if you would like.”  
“Ash, can I go?” I whispered. He nodded and I followed the men out.  
-  
Sitting in the waiting room for over three hours was the hardest part of the whole night. At some point, everyone tried to talk to me, even Ashton, but nothing would help.  
“Hey,” Ashton came back over to me, “Why are you so much more upset than the rest of us?” This was the moment that I could either come clean, or keep lying to him. I didn’t know which would be worse.  
I was spared the task of deciding when the doctor came out, “Iris Clifford?” I approached him, “Calum wants to see you.”  
“Is he alright?” Rose asked.   
“He’s fine, he just needs to rest a bit.” The doctor assured them.  
“I can get home on my own guys, it’s late, go get some sleep.” I told them all. They left and I followed the doctor back.  
I walked into his room and the doctor shut the door, leaving me alone with Calum. I walked over to his side. He was lying down, shirtless, with a huge white bandage on his side. He looked like absolute shit.  
“You act like getting shot is a bad thing.” I smiled, attempting to make him feel better.  
“As long as it means you didn’t get shot.” He smiled weakly.  
“I’m so sorry, Cal.” I grabbed his hand, “I’m sorry this happened to you. When do you get to go home?”  
“In two days.”  
“Home won’t be the same without you. I’ll miss your stupid midnight dance parties the night after a job.” I laughed, sitting down in the chair next to his bed, “Just make sure you don’t have a hot nurse.”  
“Yes, doc, I would like the ugliest nurse you have, so my girlfriend doesn’t get jealous. Thanks man.” We both started laughing, “You should go home, babe.” He told me.  
“I don’t want to leave you.”  
“The boys and Rose will wonder why you’d be gone for so long if you don’t leave now.” He smiled sadly at me.  
“I love you.” I whispered.  
“I love you too.” I leaned down and pecked him on the lips before slowly returning home.

-  
(Rose’s POV)  
As soon as we walked in the door all hell broke lose. “Seriously, Luke, what the hell is wrong with you?!” Ashton began screaming and Luke sat down to take what was coming to him, “What are the mission rules, Luke?! What are they? Because I’m pretty sure you just broke multiple for some God damn eye candy you just want to bone every once in a while.”  
“Ashton, take it down a notch.” Mikey tried to calm him down before he went too far.   
“No, this fucking prick just almost got Calum killed for this fucking slut.” He made eye contact with me as he spat the word ‘slut’.   
“First of all, dumb-fuck, don’t you ever speak to her like that. And keep it between us, this doesn’t involve her.” Luke stood up off the couch.   
“Why do you care how I speak to her? I’m the leader of this group; I can call it a slut all I want.” Ashton stepped closer to Luke.  
“Stop talking about her like that, you twat.” They were only a foot or so apart.  
“Why do you love her? Would you like to break yet another rule while you’re at it? Maybe we can shoot Mikey this time. The rules are there for a reason, idiot. Now why don’t you go bone with your slut in your room?” Ashton smirked. Almost on queue, Luke’s fist shot up and knocked Ashton in the jaw.   
“Shut the fuck up, Ashton!” Luke practically screamed. Ashton ripped Luke off of him and pinned him against the wall. Ashton punched him repeatedly until Mikey yelled something.   
“What, Michael?” Ashton raised an eyebrow, still holding Luke by the collar.   
“The exception, can’t that apply to them too? Calum and Iris are dating, why can’t they?” Mikey smiled, thinking he had helped the cause.  
“Excuse me?” Ashton scoffed and let Luke drop to the floor.   
“Luke!” I ran over to him and let him put his arm around me for balance. I lead him to a chair and grabbed frozen peas out of the freezer for him. “Are you okay?” He nodded even though I knew he was lying. We heard the door shut and saw Iris walk in the room.  
She was putting her keys in her bag, not even looking, “Calum is doing fine, he gets to come home in two da--” She looked up, “What did I miss?” She looked first at Luke holding the peas to his face, me standing by him, then at Michael, looking as guilty as he was at telling his sister’s secret, and Ashton, standing in the middle of the room, practically seething.  
“You.” Ashton glared at her, “How long have you been shagging Calum?”  
“We’ve never--” She started, eyes going wide.  
“Cut the act, Michael just spilled it.” Ashton stood close to her.   
“Mike!” Iris shouted at her brother.  
“I thought he knew.” He held up his hands.  
“How long?” Ashton asked louder.  
“Two years.” She muttered.  
“WHAT?!?” Ashton didn’t even know what to do, “I’ll get to you later, I’m not done with Luke.”  
"Luke, no." I begged him as he stood up out of the chair.  
"I'm gonna be okay, Rose." He tried to reassure me.   
"You. You're a fucking idiot." Ashton went to throw another punch which Luke dodged. "Fucking the bait, breaking the rules. Who do you think you are?"  
“Hey!” Iris suddenly grabbed Ashton’s shoulder and spun him around, “Listen to me for a fucking second!”  
“What?” Ashton gritted his teeth.  
“I know this isn’t about me right now, but Calum and I have been together for two years. We’ve never let our relationship get in the way of what we do. It probably makes us be more careful, actually. Just because you fucking lost your girlfriend doesn’t mean that everyone else doesn’t get to be happy. Luke and Rose will look out for each other, they’ll stay safer, knowing that they have something to come home to. Plus, Cal and I are not going to throw two years away just because you fucked up.”   
Ashton just stood there, his mouth wide open. "Rooms. Now." Ashton spoke in a hushed tone. No one moved. "I said rooms!" He screamed and hit the vase off the side table. As I walked back to my room I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Make sure he doesn't so something stupid like that for you again. Got it bait?" I nodded.   
"Yes sir." I continued walking up the stairs.   
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
Two days later, I picked up Calum from the hospital and brought him home. On the car ride there, I told him, “Home is really awkward lately. You’ll see when we get back.”  
“Why?” He asked. I just shook my head and he squeezed my hand.  
When we pulled into the driveway, I helped him out, careful not to touch his side, and I slammed the front door shut behind us, announcing our arrival.  
“Cal’s home!” I shouted and helped him sit down on the couch. Rose, Luke, and Michael ran in and asked how he was.  
“Good enough for a guy that was shot.” Calum smiled, trying to make light of the  
situation, “Where’s Ash?”  
“You’re going to want to avoid him for a while.” Luke whispered. Calum looked confused and Luke explained, “When Iris got home the other night, he was laying into me about Rose, and then Mikey accidentally spilled about you and Iris. He knows that you’ve been going behind his back this whole time.”  
“What?” Cal looked at Michael in shock; the latter just looked down at his hands.  
“Don’t blame him, he thought that Ash knew. It was my fault.” I sat down next to Calum.  
“So, what now?” Rose asked, sitting down next to me. We heard Ashton coming down the stairs, and we all stopped and looked at him. He looked at us, with no emotion at all, and walked into the kitchen silently. He came back out a minute later with a bottle of water and went back up the stairs.  
“Well, that was awkward.” Calum said. We all nodded and just sat there in silence, unsure of what to do.  
-  
The next few days involved all of us, minus Ashton, watching TV, but not really paying attention, and Ashton shutting himself in my room, except to grab food a few times a day. Three nights after Calum returned home, I was arguing with Michael in my room.  
“I don’t think we should look for her anymore, after the way he’s been treating all of us.” I shook my head.  
“But, Ice, if we find her, then maybe Ashton will change the rule.”   
“But Mikey, he’s such an asshole to us lately. I don’t think he deserves it.”  
“Then I’ll just go find her myself.” He shook his head and went to get up.  
“How did you find out about Hazel?” We heard a whisper. I looked up and saw Ashton standing in my doorway, fists clenched.  
“We saw an old picture and were curious.” Michael replied, “That’s all.” Ashton shook his head and walked out. Michael shrugged at me and went back to his room across the hall. I threw the book sitting by my bed as hard as I could across the room. It hit the wall and landed on Rose’s bed, leaving a mark on the wall.

-  
That night, we were all, except Ashton, sitting on the couch and watching Warm Bodies. It was at the part where R became a human again, and I was crying like some dumb girl. Calum looked down at me and smiled.  
“Shut up.” I muttered, pouting.  
“Come on, you’re so much prettier when you smile.” He lifted my chin with his finger and pecked me on the lips.  
I heard a loud noise and we jumped apart. Ashton had just come down the stairs, and had thrown a cup to the ground, “Come the fuck on!” He screamed, blocking our view of the movie, “Why are you even with this fucking slut?!?”  
“She’s not a slut!” Calum shouted back.  
“Have you seen her fucking closet?!”  
“Because you made her get that stuff!”  
“Oh, come on, Calum! She is such a slut, and you know it! I don’t get why you waste your time with her if she won’t even do you.” He laughed bitterly.  
“That’s enough!” I shouted, standing up, “You have something to say about me, say it to my fucking face!” I moved closer, so our faces were inches away, “Now, what did you say about me?” I whispered angrily.  
“I said, you’re a slut.” His voice was low and deadly. I pulled my hand back and slapped him in the face. He glared at me and left the room, muttering, “She’s not worth it.”  
“Fuck him!” Calum shouted as I sat back down.  
“Cal, it’s fine. He’s just pissy.” 

-  
(Rose’s POV)  
I woke up in the middle of the night to my stomach growling. Slowly I got out of bed, so I didn’t wake Iris, and crept down to the kitchen. When I turned the corner, I saw the fridge light reflecting off of several beer cans.   
“Hey babe.” Ashton looked up from the counter at me. He walked towards me, tripping over his own feet.  
“God Ashton, you’re drunk.” I backed up.  
“God, you’re so fucking hot.” He mumbled, stepping closer.  
“Ashton, what the hell?” I took a few more steps back until I hit the wall.  
He continued forward until he was inches away from me and tucked a strand of hair behind my ear, “How about you forget about Luke for just one night, babe?”  
“No Ashton, get off of me.” I pushed his hand away from my face.   
He bit his lip in frustration, “Come on, just one night, that’s all, I swear, Rose.” He put his hand around my elbow and pulled me closer.  
“You disgust me, get off.” I tried to to get out of his grip, but he just tightened it.  
“Rose Petal, come on...” He murmured.  
“You asked for it, asshole.” I punched him straight in the jaw, causing him to tumble backwards into the pans hanging on the ceiling which fell around him.  
I heard light footsteps run down the stairs only a second later, followed by heavier ones. Iris and Luke were both standing in the doorway, looking tired and confused.  
“What happened? I woke up, got on Tumblr, and then I heard a crash. What’s going on?” She looked at me, shaking my hand a little, and then at Ashton, on the ground, holding his jaw with one hand and a beer with the other.  
“All I say is he got what was coming to him.” I reopened the fridge to grab the pizza I came down originally for.  
“What do you mean?” Iris looked concerned, but she wasn’t sure who for, “What did he do?”  
“I’ll tell you when we get back to our room, okay?” I whispered to Iris. “Luke, honey, it’s okay. He was just being a dick again, don’t worry. I took care of it.” I smiled at him to make sure he knew I wasn’t lying. I took the pizza up to our room, where Iris was on her laptop.  
“So, what happened back there?” She asked when I shut the door. She put her laptop down and pulled her brown hair up into a messy bun.  
“Well,” I whispered as Luke’s room was next door, “I walked into the kitchen to get some pizza and Ashton was just sitting there with his head down surrounded by beer cans. As soon as I made noise Ashton started coming on to me and telling me to forget about Luke and I think he was going to, you know, if I didn’t punch him.”   
“Oh, damn.” She muttered. The door suddenly opened, Michael falling in our room, over top of Luke. Calum pushed himself off the wall opposite our door and jumped over Luke to lay down next to Iris.  
“Rose, why didn’t you tell me?” Luke asked in disbelief.  
“I didn’t want anyone to be that angry at him.” I spoke quietly.  
“Well that fucking worked, didn’t it?” Luke almost yelled.  
“Yeah, I think you made it worse.” Iris mumbled.  
“Luke, it’s okay, I’m alright.” I didn’t want anyone to be too worried about me, or to be too angry at Ashton.  
“Too late.” Luke got up to mess Ashton up, but I pulled him back down.  
“Luke, just let him sleep tonight.” I nodded.  
“Okay, but you’re sleeping in my room.” Luke demanded.  
“Yes, sir.” I said sarcastically.  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
After Luke left with Rose, Michael went back to his room, and Calum refused to get out of my bed.  
“Babe, come on.” I nudged him, “Move over at least.”  
“I don’t want to.” He pouted. I lay down on top of him and he let out an “oof”.  
“Am I that heavy?” I teased.  
“It was unexpected.” He replied, putting his arms around me. He twirled a strand of my hair, “You know... Now that Ashton knows about us, we have nothing to lose...”  
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” I raised my eyebrow. He nodded and I smiled. I pecked him on the lips and undid the button on his jeans. He took my shirt off and kissed me.

-  
The next morning, I woke up to a girlish scream. I sat up, holding the blanket around me. Michael was standing in the doorway, stunned.  
“Was that you screaming?” I laughed. He nodded, unable to say anything, “Hey, chill. We’ve been dating for two years, it’s cool. Now leave so I can get dressed.” When Michael left, I put on shorts and a t-shirt and sat on Calum’s stomach, “Wake up.” I leaned over him, letting my hair touch his face.  
“That tickles.” He mumbled, trying to roll over onto his side.  
“Wake up!” I leaned down further and kissed his cheek, “I want to actually do something today!” He sighed and got up, putting on his jeans, “Why were you wearing jeans at 2 in the morning?” I asked him.  
“I was too tired to change.” He shrugged and we both went downstairs. When we sat down at the dining room table, Rose had a plate with pancakes and bacon for both of us.   
“You guys need to learn to be quieter.” Rose winked and Luke laughed.  
“It’s payback for the first night you we here, hun.” Calum laughed at his own joke and Iris joined in.  
“But nice hair, where’d you get it done?” Rose smiled, “Did you get it modeled after Sex in the City?”  
“Shut it.” Iris smirked, “I get more action than you.”  
“We can fix that.” Luke smacked Rose’s ass and walked back to the fridge. He got out the milk and sat back down. We were all laughing, but then heard Ashton come down the stairs, and abruptly stopped.  
“Hey asswipe, how was trying to get with my girlfriend last night?” Luke’s voice was cold.   
“Luke, please stop.” Ashton rubbed his temples.  
“Oh, are we done acting like children now?” I asked, “Because I would love it if we could just grow up.”  
“Ashton, you literally tried to rape my girlfriend. You fucking idiot.” Luke slammed his palm down on the countertop and Ashton winced at the sound.   
“Luke, just stop it alright.” Ashton sounded like a five year old begging to be let out of timeout.  
“No, Ashton. I fucking hate you!” Luke slammed him against the wall and began punching him similar to how Ashton punched Luke earlier. Luke began slamming his knee into Ashton’s stomach. Then lifted him by his collar with both of his hands and threw him down on the floor.  
“I’m sorry!” Ashton yelled as Luke raised his fist one last time. He reluctantly put his fist down and let Ashton stand up. He faced all of us, “Look, I know I’ve been an asshole ever since the night Calum got shot. I’m sorry. And oh my God, last night, I don’t even know what that was. I understand if you can’t forgive me for that. But, the reason I’ve been like this... The exact thing that happened to Rose happened to my last girlfriend, Hazel, except I couldn’t save her. They kidnapped her. And I could never find her.” He looked incredibly upset, “I’m sorry about the way I’ve been acting. I’m sorry about all the physical and emotional harm I’ve caused. And I definitely deserved every slap and punch I’ve been given in the past 24 hours. I’ve decided to lift the relationship ban.” Rose got up and stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek, soon followed by me hugging him.  
“Group hug!” I yelled and all the boys joined in, “We love you, Ashton.”  
“So, how are we going to find Hazel?” Michael asked, leading us down to the briefing room.  
Calum pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket, “This is the reason I got shot. I grabbed this, let’s hope it has something good. He unfolded it and smoothed it out on the table:

23.7S 133,87E  
“What the hell does that mean?” Rose asked.  
“It’s coordinates.” Michael replied, punching the numbers into his tablet, “Alice Springs.” He pulled up a map on the large screen, with a big red marker in the middle of Australia.  
“Wow, now we only have to search every building in the city! That won’t be hard!” Iris told her brother sarcastically.  
“Well, I think I just found,” He unbent his head from over his tablet, “Some connections of the last guy to places in Alice Springs.” The screen zoomed in on the city and placed two new markers, one on the outskirts of the city, and one right in the heart of it.  
“I don’t think we can afford to search both. We have to find out which one it is for sure.” Luke suggested.  
“Yeah, I agree. Too risky. Plus, we’ll only have one car, and if we appear in both places with the one car, they’ll find us.” Calum nodded, crossing his arms.  
“When do we leave?” I asked excitedly.  
“The moment we find out which place she’s in, we’ll leave.” Ashton told us.  
“Oh boy, road trip!” I grinned, “Mike, hurry up and find it! Rose and I are going to the store to get snacks.”  
-  
When we got back, all the boys were still in the briefing room. We set down the three huge bags filled with food in the corner and joined them all, standing around the table.  
“Any progress?” I asked, crossing my arms.  
“She’s in an abandoned warehouse in the middle of the city.” Luke told us.  
“So, we’re leaving in the morning. It takes about 28 hours to get there, so we’re all going to take turns driving. Rest up, good night.” Ashton told us, turning off the screen.  
“I don’t know how to drive.” Rose admitted shyly.  
“That’s fine, let’s all just pack and then get some rest.” Ashton told us and we all went up to our rooms.  
-  
“Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey!” I jumped on Rose’s bed.  
“Fuck off.” She mumbled, sweeping her arm and knocking me down onto my back.  
“Come on, we’re going on a road trip!” I climbed on top of her and leaned over her, so my face was only a few inches away. I heard the door open and glanced up. I saw Calum and Luke look at us, then walk right back out. I laughed and tickled Rose.  
“Dammit!” She let out between laughs, then sat up, shoving me off of her. We got dressed and ran downstairs, dragging our duffel bags with us. We each grabbed a protein bar and sat on the couch, waiting for the boys.   
“You girls ready to go?” Michael asked, coming down the stairs with his bag.  
“I would be if you had let me sleep longer.” Rose grumbled.  
“We all had to wake up at the same time, Jesus.” I laughed as Luke, Calum, and Ashton came downstairs.  
“I’ll drive first.” Ashton said, “Mike, you sit shotgun and give me directions.” He nodded and we all piled in the car, tossing our bags in the back. The first few minutes was silent, except for Rose’s occasional grumbling.  
“You can go to sleep if you want.” Luke smiled at her. She smiled gratefully and cuddled into Luke’s side, closing her eyes.  
“Wanna listen to music?” Calum asked me. I nodded and he held out one of his earbuds. I took it and he put his iPod on shuffle.  
-  
When we got there, we stopped at a gas station and changed into clean clothes. Rose and I washed our faces in the sinks and put on our makeup. We met the boys back at the car and Ashton suggested we go get breakfast. We found a nearly empty McDonald’s and ordered lots of food. When we sat down with our food, Ashton started giving us the plan of action.  
“Mike and Iris will go in first, scope the place out, Mike will turn off all the cameras and anything else that may be there. Iris will come back out when the coast is clear, or if they need back-up, and we’ll follow her in. We’ll split up in pairs and search for Hazel. The second any of you find her, let us know. We’ll come to you, and figure it out from there.” We all agreed and finished eating.

-  
When we parked behind the warehouse, we split into pairs; me with Calum, Rose with Luke, and Michael with Ashton. We each took different sections and searched as quietly as we could. About ten minutes of finding only dead ends and rooms full of empty boxes, I heard Luke in my earpiece.  
“We found her, northwest stairwell, take it all the way down. Rose will be there.” We went to where he said, and found Rose, Michael, and Ashton already there.  
“Let’s go save Hazel.” Rose told us.  
(Ashton’s POV)  
[8] We made our way down the narrow corridor, and my hands were quivering with anticipation. I got to see Hazel again. We found Luke standing in front of a metal door, a smile on his face and he got out of the way to let me go first. I tried the handle, but it was locked. Iris gently pushed me out of the way and picked it. It clicked and I tried it again. It opened, revealing what looked like a small jail. I stepped through the door, and found one of the two cells occupied. A skinny, light brown-haired girl was curled up in a ball on the plain, old mattress. I slowly walked over to the door of the cell, putting my hands on the cold metal. I couldn’t help but notice that the lock on the door had a small triangle with an X in it, the symbol from the man with the briefcase, the man with the million dollars.  
“Hazel.” I whispered. Her head shot up, she looked absolutely horrible. But she was still my Hazel, and I still loved her. I held one of my hands out behind me, “Iris, give me a bobby pin!” She placed one in my outstretched palm and I quickly picked the lock. I flung the door open and rushed over to Hazel, squatting down next to her, “Hazel, it’s me.” I carefully put my hand in her hair. She looked up at me, confused. After a moment, her dark, empty eyes widened.  
“Ashton?” She whispered, probably the first word she had spoken in over a year.  
I pulled her into my arms, “I’m so sorry it took so long, Hazel.” I mumbled into her hair, “I looked for months straight, I thought you were gone forever. But my friends, they helped me find you. I love you, I’m so sorry.”  
“Ashton,” She murmured, her voice hoarse from lack of anyone to talk to, “I...” She couldn’t seem to say the words. She just nodded and I knew exactly what she meant. I helped her up from the mattress on the floor.  
“I want you to meet my friends.” I smiled at her. Michael was standing closest, “This is Mikey, he was the one that found out you were here.”   
“Thank you.” She whispered and hugged him. Michael looked shocked, but hugged her back.  
“This is his sister, Iris.” Iris hugged her too, “This is Rose,” She also gave Hazel a hug, “Luke, and Calum.” They both smiled at her, and Iris pushed them both towards her. They hugged her and she came back over to me, grabbing my hand.  
We all turned around to leave when I heard a gun click. The barrel of a gun was pointing right at Hazel. There was a guy bigger than any of us standing in the doorway, “Irwin stays or the girl dies.” 

(Hazel’s POV)  
“Just go, I’ll be fine.” Ashton whispered to me. I smiled sadly at him and stood on my toes to kiss him on the cheek. Michael grabbed my hand and we ran out of the room, leaving Ashton behind. We didn’t stop running until we were all piled into a van, and Calum drove off. He parked in the parking lot of a gas station and climbed into the middle row of seats, so we could all face each other.  
“Well, Hazel, it’s a pleasure to have you join our group.” Iris smiled at me. I nodded with a small smile and she turned to face everyone, “How are we going to get Ash back?”  
“He called us ‘my friends’ twice...” Luke mumbled, sounding shocked. I guess he wasn’t used to that.  
“I vote we kill every single motherfucker that works for the guys who took Hazel, and then Ashton.” Calum pounded his fist into his palm, “They don’t deserve a second chance. They’re lucky we left with Hazel without a fight. They won’t get so lucky this time.” Calum’s voice kept getting louder and angrier.  
“Calm down, Cal.” Iris muttered, rubbing his forearm with her hand.  
“So, lots of killing. Cool.” Michael said, “Let’s go tonight after dark.”  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
When we parked outside the warehouse again, we all crowded around the trunk as Luke opened it. He handed out guns. He held one out to Rose, who shook her head.  
“Come on, Rose.” Luke whined a little.  
“Nope, not even gonna do that.” She insisted. Luke turned to Hazel, still holding the weapon out. She pointed to Rose, as if saying “same”.  
“You’re such girls!” I told them, taking the gun from Luke and tucking my biggest knife into my pocket, just in case.  
“How about this,” Luke turned to his girlfriend, “You and Hazel sneak ahead and spring Ashton, and give him this gun.” He held out another gun, slightly larger than the last one.  
“Fine.” Rose sighed, putting it in the pocket of her jacket, “But I refuse to use it!”   
“Well, let’s go!” Calum jumped up and down, holding his gun. We all nodded and snuck over to the door. I slowly opened it and peered around. I held up five fingers behind me, then two more; there were seven guys in the first room.  
“Wait here, I’ll surprise them, then you come in.” I mouthed and they nodded. I snuck in and crouched behind a large crate. One of the guys sat on it and I stood behind him in a way that I couldn’t be seen. I took my knife out of my pocket, and as carefully, quickly, and quietly as I could, I slit his throat. He made a small noise and slouched over, dead.   
“Joe, you okay?” I heard one of the guys ask him, stepping closer. He touched the dead man’s throat and his eyes widened. I stood up and pointed the gun straight at his heart.  
“See you in hell.” I told him and shot my gun. The noise got the five other guys’ attention, and the rest of my team rushed in, guns held at the ready. A man rushed for me, and I was about to steady my gun when he fell, Calum standing behind him.  
“Come on!” He yelled at me, pulling me out from behind the crate. Luke, Michael, and Calum all shot a few more bullets, and soon the room was empty.  
“Go.” I shooed the other girls and they ran over to the stairwell, followed by Luke for back-up, door banging shut behind them.   
-  
(Ashton’s POV)  
I heard gunfire and looked up as the door banged open. The guy who was supposed to be watching me woke up and pulled out his gun. He hadn’t even reloaded it when Luke put a bullet in his knee.   
“Here, you do the honors!” Luke told me, tossing my gun through the bars. I shot the man right in the heart, somehow missing the bars, and he fell over onto the floor. Hazel took the key off of him and unlocked the door.  
“Thanks guys.” I told them, pulling Hazel into my arms.  
“Guys, they’re calling back-up!” Michael ran into the room, stopping behind Rose, “We have to get out of here!” We all ran out the door into the hallway. Guards started coming at us from both sides. There was a collective roar made of gun shots, yells, screams, and all of our feet on the ground. I kept checking to make sure all of us were here and none of us had gone missing. I shot one final man and Luke pushed the doors open, flooding us in moonlight.  
Somehow, we all made it back to the van in one piece, and Calum drove off as quickly as possible, returning to normal speed when we got into the city.  
“We need to go home tonight.” I told him. He nodded, turned on the radio, and pulled out onto the highway.  
-  
It was my turn to drive, and Hazel was sitting up front with me. Calum and Iris were lying on the ground for some reason, cuddled together and sharing headphones, and Rose was asleep against the window, Luke's arm around her. Michael was curled up against the other window, phone dangling from his fingertips, screensaver on. Hazel looked up at me with a smile, the smile I missed so much. She grabbed my hand and held it tight, like her life depended on it.  
"I love you Hazel." I whispered, stealing a glance at her.  
"I love you too Ash." She grinned, her longest sentence that day.  
"The girls will get you talking again in no time. They never shut up." I smiled, squeezing her hand. I glanced at her again, and she looked exhausted, "Go to sleep, baby. I'll still be here when you wake up. I promise that I’ll never lose you again."

(Luke’s POV)  
Ashton shook me awake and I opened my eyes. We were parked outside a gas station, “I just filled the gas tank, it’s your turn to drive.” I got out of the car and stretched. Rose was awake at this point too, and she climbed in the front seat. I got in the driver’s seat and Hazel and Ashton took their seats in the back. I pulled out of the lot and started driving. Soon, Ashton and Hazel were asleep, so it was just Rose and I. “Luke, what day is it?” I looked over at her and she was just staring out the window.  
“Well Rose Bud, it’s the 17th of August.” I set my hand on her thigh. She shot up.  
“Oh my god! It’s my dad’s birthday. I haven’t even spoken to him since I started this whole thing.” Her back hit the chair so hard I thought she was going to wake up Ashton, but he didn’t move. “What about you?”  
“What do you mean, ‘what about me?’” I smiled.  
“I mean like what was your life before this?” She looked at me with a pleading face as if she knew I was going to say no if she didn’t.   
“Well I was born July 16th, 1996. I was an only child. Everything was pretty normal except my dad was a complete asshole. I had to learn how to fend for myself by the age of five because of him. My mom helped me as much as she could until my dad starting mentally abusing her, which just got worse. I love my mom actually, I would die for her. Anyway, one day I came home from school, I was about 17, and my dad and mom were arguing as usual. He went to their bedroom to cool down or something and he walked out. Dad said he was going out to get a pack of smokes and never came back. A few months later my mom was diagnosed with lung cancer, ironically enough. She died 27 days later. Then I met Ashton who I guess got me a place to stay and an income, for lack of a better word. Now what about you?”  
“Well I had a pretty normal, privileged, life I guess. I was born June 8th, 1997. My parents were both super chill, I guess. They raised me right and polite and shit. Well I was set up to go be a doctor at uni and then I finally told my mom and dad that I wanted to not be a doctor at all. I wanted to be a tattoo artist. My parents pretty much disowned me after that. So I ran away.. to an art college.”  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Ten minutes until we’re in Sydney!” I woke up to Luke announcing.   
“Why am I on the floor?” I wondered aloud, pulling myself onto the seat, followed by Calum, who laughed. The sun was rising and we passed a sign that said “Welcome to Sydney” and we all cheered, happy to be home again. We pulled into the driveway as the first lights switched on in the houses around us. We walked inside, Ashton flipped on the light, and we saw a guy sitting in the chair by the TV.  
“Ashton, I’ve been wait--” The man cut himself short when he saw Luke, “Luke?”  
“Robert.” Luke’s eyes narrowed.  
“Who’s this?” I asked.  
“My father.” Luke sneered and everyone’s eyes widened, “What do you want?”  
“Well I was here for Ashton to reclaim what was rightfully mine, but I guess I’ve ran into something more.”   
“What do you mean, what was yours?” Luke asked, not wanting to get personal.  
“Ashton took all my money, every last cent. I had over a million dollars. And he took it.” Robert sneered.  
“Good, you deserve it. You left your only child, you killed my mum!” Luke shouted, “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be a fucking criminal!”

(Luke’s POV)  
[9]“Luke, calm down sweetie.” Rose walked up to me and grabbed my arm.  
“Who’s this?” He gestured to Rose, who was somewhat hiding behind me.  
“Someone who actually cares about me.” I defended her, and felt her hand back on my arm.  
“Aww, how sweet,” Robert sneered, “Take her.” I felt Rose’s hand tighten on my arm and then suddenly be ripped away with a scream.   
“Rose!” I whipped around and saw Iris running toward her, but I was frozen in shock, unable to help.  
“Take that one too.” He demanded. The two men, who had appeared out of nowhere, drug them out to a van and shoved them inside.   
“Cal! Get a car!” I yelled while Robert just laughed. “You’re such an asshole and I hate you more now than ever.” I directed this at Robert and spat every word in his face. I sprinted out the door.   
“Luke, you have to get her. As soon as possible, okay?” Ashton yelled out the door after me.

-  
(Ashton’s POV)  
“Look, asshole,” I had drug Robert down to the basement and into our interrogation room, which was just a table and two chairs, “I would finish you off myself, but Luke wants to see you suffer, I’m sure.” Robert just shook his head and laughed bitterly, “Why don’t you just make your fortune back instead of coming to get it from a bunch of kids, huh? I’m sure you stole the money anyway, so why does it matter if the money is the same? We’re just some kids that need money to get through school, that’s all.” I told our cover story. I mean, it was true, but it wasn’t the whole truth. We also liked to buy nice things. I left the room and locked the door before turning to face Michael and Hazel, “We’ll just leave him in there, we’ll hang out in here so we make sure he doesn’t get out. I’m sure Luke wants to have a little chat with him.”

~MEANWHILE~  
(Luke’s POV)  
Once we were on the freeway going about 90, I was starting to think I wouldn’t catch her. “Cal, can’t you go any faster?” I asked, keeping my eye on the van.  
“Not without getting pulled over, sorry.” Just then a car merged over in front of us making us slam on the breaks. Once we moved over another lane the van had left my eyesight.   
“No.” I sighed and slammed back in the chair, “No, no, no!” I yelled and punched the window. Calum suddenly floored it and weaved in and out of traffic, looking for the van. After 30 minutes of going over 100, we heard police sirens and pulled over. Knowing we couldn’t tell them the real reason we were speeding without getting us all arrested we made the excuse that we were just seeing how fast my dad’s car could go. Instead of the girls we ended up with a ticket for $245. Calum punched the steering wheel and turned around. We went home and slammed the door behind us, causing the pictures on the wall to shake.   
“In the basement!” We heard Ashton yell. We went downstairs and sat down on the ground by the door to the interrogation room. We both buried our heads in our arms and tried not to cry. I heard Calum full-on sobbing and looked up. He was crying and I couldn’t hide it anymore. I let the tears run down my face and saw Hazel looking down at us, looking heartbroken. She sat down and put her arms around Calum, who hugged her back.  
“Where is he?” I muttered, looking at Ashton.  
“What?”  
“Where is he?!” I yelled, angry now.   
“In the room.” Ashton replied, calmly. I stood up with my fists clenched and slammed the door open.   
“You, you’ve ruined my life for the last time. Where is she?” I asked calmly and coldly, when I didn’t get an answer I began yelling, “Where the hell is she?!” I slammed my fists down on the table. He began laughing and looked up at me.  
“You don’t scare me, son. You’re just like your mother, you act all tough but as soon as I insult you, you’ll crumble. You’ll never find her.” He continued laughing. I pushed his chair that he was attached to against the brick wall. I brought my fist up to his jaw and punched him multiple times.  
“I’m gonna ask you one more time asshole, where did you take her?!” I wrapped my hand around his throat and kneed him in the stomach.   
“You wouldn’t kill me.” He smirked. I pulled my gun out and cocked it.  
“Wouldn’t I?” I aimed it at his forehead. “Where is she?”  
“A rundown building outside of town.” He smiled thinking that he had got me, I took the bottom of the gun and hit him in the temple, knocking him out cold.  
~MEANWHILE~  
(Iris’ POV)  
Rose let out another sob when the man struck her across the face, “I said,” He gritted his teeth, “Where does Ashton keep the money?”   
“I don’t know.” She whimpered. The man turned to me.   
“Maybe you know, sweetheart.” His face was less than an inch from mine.  
“Honey, if I knew, I still wouldn’t tell you.” I lied. I was the only person other than Ash that knew the code to the vault we had in the basement.   
“Bitch.” He spat in my face, getting some saliva on my cheek. I leaned forward and spit in his eye.  
“Jerk.” I sneered. I heard Rose let out a small laugh and I grinned. The man frowned at me, then his eyes went wide.  
“I’ll show you what I jerk I am.” He hissed.  
-  
(Calum’s POV)  
“This is the last building, they have to be in here.” I told Luke. I turned to the others, “We’ve got this, just stay here.” They nodded, but followed us anyway. The building was only one room and Iris was curled up in the corner, crying silently. On the other side of the room, a man in all black was wailing on Rose. I ran over to Iris, and sat down next to her when I saw Luke run over to Rose and the man. Luke grabbed him with all the force he could and shoved him away from Rose. He started punching him as hard as he could, until the man was lying on the ground, unconscious.  
“Are you okay, Ris?” I asked, rubbing my hand up and down her back. She shook her head, “What happened baby?”  
“He was so horrible to us.” She whispered, “Rose’s face is going to be bruised for weeks, and the emotional pain he caused me will never go away.”  
“What did he do to you?” I asked. She just shook her head, “I’m going to kill that fucker.” I suddenly yelled, knowing exactly what happened to her. I shot up and ran over to the man lying on the ground. The man came to and I pulled out my gun. I stood over him and cocked the gun, “You’re a piece of shit, you know that?” I glared down at him and fired a bullet straight into his skull. Luke and Rose were sitting five feet away and I heard Luke tell her, “I still think you’re pretty.” She shot him a dirty look, her face was bruised and swollen, and I went back over to Iris. I picked her up and carried her to the car.

-  
(Luke’s POV)  
“Why?” Ashton sat down across from Robert, and I stood next to Ashton, my arms crossed and a scowl on my face.  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”  
“Yes, you do!” I slammed my palm down on the table.  
“I have nothing to say to you.” He stared right into my eyes, they were full of hate, and then looked away.  
“Robert, just tell us why you took Hazel, then me, then abused Rose and Iris.” Ashton leaned forward, “If you do, it will hurt less, I promise.” He cracked his knuckles. He just shook his head and Ashton and I walked out, slamming the door.  
“Boys, boys, boys,” Iris shook her head when we came out, “That is not how it’s done.” She grabbed Rose’s arm and pulled her towards the door, “Watch and learn.”

(Iris’ POV)  
“Hi, Robert, I’m Iris.” I sat down, playing good cop. Rose stood behind me, arms crossed, “This is Rose. We just have a few questions for you, and it would be great if you would cooperate.” He didn’t move or say anything, “Do you know anything about this symbol?” I pushed a piece of paper with the triangle and the X across the table.  
He shrugged, “I’ve seen it around.”  
“Why are your men seemingly everywhere?” I asked as he glanced up at Rose, “I can’t tell you how many we’ve even seen.”  
He just shrugged and Rose banged her fist on the table, “Tell the woman, we need the truth.” Robert’s eyes widened a little, then narrowed.  
“How cute,” He laughed, “You think you’re a badass.” Rose leaned across the table and slapped him, “Oh, you’re serious.” He rubbed his cheek with his hand, “I have men everywhere, sweethearts.” He leaned back in his chair, not taking anything seriously, “I run this town. I heard that the little Asian boy almost died,” Robert laughed, “That was fucking hilarious.”  
“That’s it!” I yelled, losing my cool. I flew around the table and punched him. Once, twice, and I was about to punch him again when I felt arms wrap around my middle and lift me up. I recognized them as Ashton’s and yelled, “Get off of me, Ashton! Get off! He talked shit about Calum! Let me kill him! Get off!” Ashton took me outside and set me down, blocking the door.  
“Go upstairs, we can take care of this.” He told me. He gave me a quick hug and I went upstairs, “Oh, and toss me down the bananas!” He called. When I went into the kitchen, I threw the bananas down the stairs and heard a, “Thanks!”, and I went into the living room, where Calum and Michael were watching cartoons.

(Luke’s POV)  
“You gonna talk now, dad?” I sneered.   
“I’m surprised you still have a girl in here. Doesn’t all the men fighting scare you sweetheart?” Robert smirked.  
“Not even in the slightest, honey.” Rose crossed her arms. I heard laughter from the other side of the room and saw Ashton nearly choking on his banana. “Now, why don’t you tell us why you came here in the first place?”   
“Like I said, I came here for what’s mine.” Robert said.  
“Can you elaborate on that?” Ashton asked with his mouth full of banana.  
“A few months ago you guys intercepted a deal I was working on. I had all my money being traded for something and one of your men shot my carrier. He had the briefcase handcuffed to himself.” He looked around as if he was trying to see if it was Ash or I who shot him.  
“Actually, sweetheart, that would be me who shot him.” Rose raised her hand and walked forward a little bit. “It’s kinda sad your whole operation went crumbling by the hands of one girl.” She started drawing her gun slowly out of her pocket, none of us were going to stop her. She walked closer to him. “In fact it was this gun right here.” Rose sat down on the table in front of him, “And it was even in this hand.” She turned the gun around so she was holding the barrel and then hit him with the handle of the gun, causing him to pass out, “Misogynistic dickwad.” 

-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Ooh, we get to go to Iris’ film class today!” Calum grinned as we all ate breakfast.  
“Yeah, you get to make no noise,” I glared at Michael, then at Rose, “And watch the films.” We finished a couple minutes later, and I led them over to the theater and film building. We sat towards the back of the room and waited for class to start.  
“Good morning, everyone. Ready to see the previews that your classmates have made?” My professor came into the room. We all nodded and he looked at a piece of paper, “Alright, we’re going to get started with Ms. Iris Clifford. Iris, if you would.” He gestured to the computer. I made my way to the front of the room and stuck my flashdrive into the computer. I pulled up the file, but quickly hit pause.  
“Alright, so mine is called Don’t Stop, it’s about four misfit heroes, played by my friends Calum, Luke, Ashton, and Michael, who team up to stop danger. The preview also features my friend, Rose,” From the back of the room, I heard “That’s me!” and I grinned, “So, enjoy.”

-  
(Luke’s POV)  
When we got back from our afternoon classes, I went back downstairs to the room Robert was in, “Look, I want answers and I want them now.” He just nodded and I sat down, “Why the fuck did you leave us?”  
“I left to protect you, Lucas. You and your mother both. I had to keep you safe. If I had stayed in our home any longer, the people would’ve caught up with me. We would have all been slaughtered.” Robert looked as if he was going to cry.  
“Why don’t I believe it?” I asked quietly.  
“I’m your father, Luke. I’m here to protect you.” He looked me in the eyes, “I’m so sorry that I left you, son. I’m sorry about your mother,” As he said that, I heard the door open and a few pairs of footsteps, “I cried all night when I heard.” I glanced around and saw that Ashton and Rose were now in the room.   
“Robert, please don’t.” I whispered, not wanting to feel sorry for the man who left me and my mother. I saw Ashton tap something on his phone, and a moment later I was vaguely aware of the fact that everyone was standing out in the hallway. I was so lost, and so confused, that I didn’t even know when I had gotten my gun out. [10]  
“Luke, come home. Tell your friends that I won’t trouble them if I can just get my money and my son and go home.” He said so quietly that only I could hear it.  
“Dad...” I slowly stood up and faced the team I had been a part of for so long, the people I loved so much, and I looked down at my hand, it was trembling so hard that the gun was shaking badly. I was so lost, and I just wanted to be a kid again, at home with my mom and dad, my parents who loved me. I was aware of the fact that I had lifted my shaky hand and pointed the gun right at Ashton’s chest.  
“Luke,” Ashton held up his hands and his voice was soft and kind, almost like a brother, “You don’t want to do this, mate. You’re just confused. Put the gun down, we can talk this all out, we’ll work something out. I promise.” I saw Rose step forward, she was nearly in front of Ashton now.  
“Rose, no.” I heard Iris whisper, now standing in the room as well.  
“I have to.” She said quietly, before taking a small step forward, hand outstretched, “Luke, please,” She addressed me, “I know you don’t want to do this. Luke, please stop.” She carefully put her hand on the gun and pressed it against her chest, as if to prove a point. I moved my finger and heard the gun click. Everyone’s eyes widened in terror, and that’s when I knew exactly what to do. I turned around, pointing the gun straight at Robert’s forehead.  
“I would never betray someone who loves me.” I spat and pulled the trigger. I heard someone hit the floor behind me and turned around, throwing my gun down. “Rose, oh my god. Are you okay?” I knelt down next to her and wrapped my arms around her. She was shaking like a leaf in a windstorm.   
“Yeah, yeah Luke. I’m okay, I’m fine.” Rose answered not moving her eyes from the floor.  
“I don’t believe you.” I rubbed her back.  
“Neither do I.” She finally made eye contact with me.  
-  
A couple days later, I randomly woke up in the middle of the night. I rolled over, trying to fall back asleep. I went to pull Rose closer, but found the other side of the bed empty. I frowned and closed my eyes, not able to fall asleep again.  
-  
I went downstairs for breakfast. Nothing looked that great, so I made myself a bowl of Lucky Charms and went into the dining room, where everyone was talking and eating. The second I sat down, everyone stopped any kind of noise immediately, and ate as quickly as they could. Calum was the first person finished and put his hand on Iris’ arm, Come on, babe.” He said quietly to her. They both got up and left, soon followed by Ashton, Hazel, and Michael. I looked up at Rose, who just left without even looking at me.  
I finished my breakfast, put the bowl in the sink, and went back to my room. I was scrolling through Twitter when I heard my door slowly open.  
“Luke?” I looked up to see Rose standing hesitantly in the doorway. I set down my phone and patted the spot next to me on the bed. She sat down next to me and looked me in the eyes, “Everyone is afraid to even be around you.”  
“Why?” I asked, concerned. What had I done?  
“The day you killed your father...” She bit her lip and looked away, “You almost killed me and Ashton. What’s to say you won’t try again?”  
“Rose,” I gently turned her around so she was facing, “I was fucking terrified. I didn’t even know what I was doing. I promise that I will never hurt you, or Iris, or Hazel, or any of the boys. I’m so damn sorry, and it won’t happen again.”  
“Go tell that to everyone else.” She told me. She stood up and held out her hand. I took it and we went downstairs, where everyone was playing some dancing game on the XBox Kinect.   
“In your face, dumb fuck!” Iris shouted at Calum, who had apparently just lost. He shrugged and sat down. Rose went over to the couch and sat on the arm of it and everyone turned to look at me, the room suddenly silent.  
“Hi guys. So um, I guess I kinda scared the crap out of all of you.” I began.  
"Damn right you did!” Calum stood up, walking closer to me, “Do you have any idea how fucking terrified the girls were?” He was only a few feet away now, his voice growing louder, “You almost murdered your girlfriend! You held a gun to our brother!” His face was inches away from mine now, “You have no fucking idea how long these girls cried.” His voice was low and venomous, “These girls have killed men and I’ve never seen them more upset and afraid than I had that day.” Suddenly he was yelling again, “Maybe you should just fucking get out! You can’t stay here if you’re going to try and kill us!”  
“Calum! Shut the fuck up!” Rose suddenly interrupted.   
“Why should I? He needs to be told off.” Calum sneered.  
“Because he came down here to apologize, but honestly you don’t even deserve it now. Asshole.”   
“What the fuck did you just call me?” Calum shoved her a little.  
“I called you an asshole, asshole.” Rose shoved him back. “I swear to god if you call my boyfriend out like that again, I’ll blind you.”   
“Why don’t I believe you? You can’t hurt me. You can’t even pick up a gun without having a breakdown.” Calum smirked. I looked over at Iris, who had the same disgusted look as me.   
“Excuse me? Oh, that’s right. You weren’t down there when we were questioning Robert. Well, it went something like this.” Rose swung her fist at Calum, hitting him directly in the eye. Calum stumbled backwards and then ran towards Rose. He tackled her to the ground. I went to intervene and Iris shook her head as if she was telling me to watch. Rose had suddenly flipped Cal off her and was on top of him and wailing on him. She paused for a moment.   
“Still think I can’t handle myself?” Rose raised her fist and collided with his nose, which instantly started bleeding. Hazel stood up, looking fed up with their nonsense, and grabbed both of Rose’s arms, pulling her away easily. Iris grabbed Calum’s arm and roughly shoved him into the kitchen, probably to yell at him for being so stupid.  
I grabbed Rose and lead her up to my room. “First of all, where the hell did that come from?” I started laughing and she joined in.   
“Iris has been teaching me, with some help from Ashton, but mostly Iris, so I’m not just looks anymore.” I held my hand up so she could give me a high five. “But I’m gonna kill him.”  
“Rose, just calm down. I think you proved your point.” I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her forehead.   
“He didn’t need to call you out like that. Especially since you were coming to apologize.” She clenched her fists.  
“Hey, Rose!” Iris shouted up the stairs, “Come to the hospital with us.” I heard her run up the stairs and she was standing in the doorway, tying her shoe, “Calum thinks he broke his nose.” She rolled her eyes.  
“He didn’t. I did.” Rose smiled and ran down the stairs.  
Calum came up the stairs then, holding his nose with one hand and took Iris’ with the other, “Come on!”  
“You know, Rose,” Iris grinned, “I’m proud of you and mad at you.”  
-  
(Calum’s POV)  
“Mr. Hood,” The doctor came back in the room after looking at the X-Rays, “Your nose is not broken. Not even damaged more than just a bloody nose.”   
“Thank you, doctor.” Iris smiled at him and we left. I frowned, “What’s wrong? Did you want your nose to be broken?” She laughed.  
“I wanted you to take care of me.” I mumbled.  
“Oh my God, you’re such a dork.” She teased, kissing my nose.  
“Ouch!” I shouted and she just laughed, leading me back to the car. We got in the car, Rose driving, Iris in the front, me in the back.  
“Well, did it break?” Rose smirked.  
“I could’ve died.” I shouted from the backseat.  
“Well, I would’ve missed you.” Iris turned around to face me.  
“Me too, but for like a week tops.” Rose added. Iris started laughing at her joke.  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Hey, guys, come check out what I found!” Michael yelled up the stairs. We all got up from the couch and joined him in the briefing room. He was looking through Robert’s stuff and held a piece of paper in his hands. He handed it to Ashton, “Take a look.”  
“Oh my God.” Ashton put his hand over his mouth as he read what it said.  
“What is it?” I asked eagerly.  
“You’ll never believe what they were planning to steal.” He told us, looking up at as all.  
“What?” Luke asked, crossing his arms.  
“The Hope Diamond.” Ashton told us quietly, “And now we know how to get it.”  
-  
(Rose’s POV)   
“Guys, guys. Why do they call it the hope diamond?” I turned away from the airplane window to Luke and Ashton.  
“Why, Rose? Why do they call it the hope diamond?” Ashton groaned.  
“Because we better hope it’s a real diamond otherwise we’re not gonna get a lot of money.” Luke just sighed and rolled his eyes as Ashton shot me a look.  
“You know, Rose,” Iris leaned forward from her spot behind me, sticking her head between the seats, “That was almost as funny as the first five hundred puns you told us. I’m so sorry Hazel had to miss this.” She rolled her eyes as Calum and Luke laughed a little.  
“Ouch, guys. Ouch.” I looked back out the window.  
“Rose if you keep this up you’re gonna blow our cover.” Luke tried to get her to stop.  
“Man, I sure hope I don’t do that.” I laughed again, “Man you guys do not appreciate fine comedy.” I sighed as the plane started to land.  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
“Alright guys,” Ashton parked stopped when we were standing in the middle of the National Mall, “We’ll go inside in half an hour, but I have something I want to say.” We all turned to face him, so we were standing in a circle, “I just want to tell you how proud I am of us. We’re a bunch of random ass college kids who couldn’t be more different, but look at how much we’ve done together. I love you guys, you’re my family.” We all stood there in silence, shocked at the fact Ashton had said that he loves us. He had never even said that he likes us before.  
“We love you too, Ash.” Michael grinned after a moment of silence.   
“Half an hour, possibly the last of our lives.” Ashton told us quietly.  
Calum took my hand with a small smile and we went over to a bench.  
“What if one of us doesn’t make it, Calum?” I whispered.  
He tucked a strand of hair behind my ear and lifted my chin with his finger, “Don’t think like that, babe.” He tried to put on a brave smile, “We’re both gonna be okay. Even if one of us goes,” He paused for a second, “Even if I die, you have to promise me that you’ll keep on living. You’ll finish college and become a famous director. You’ll find someone new, who can love you even more than I did, and you’ll grow old together, and you’ll be happy. And someday, someday, we’ll be together again. But I’ll try my best to live, okay?” He smiled at me.  
“I love you, Calum Hood.” I whispered.  
“I love you too, Iris Clifford.” He pressed his lips to mine.


	2. Original Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this is the original ending, the one that wouldn't constitute a sequel

(Rose’s POV)

[11] “Shit, there are a ton of them. I think we should back out.” Michael whispered, glancing around the corner.  
“No, this could have a huge payout.” Ashton replied.  
“I just have a bad feeling about this, but okay...”  
We all sat with guns in hand and backs against the walls. Ashton made a motion with  
his free hand and we all quietly crept into the room. He mouthed the words ‘on my count’. Once he got to three we all opened fire, popping up at different intervals to shoot. Ashton told us all to start moving in. Luke and I ran straight in with everything we had, smiling because we knew we were going to win this. Suddenly my gun stopped firing bullets and was firing blanks. I reached to my pocket to pull out more and nothing came out. “Luke!” I screamed and began panicking. We both made it behind a pillar. “Luke, I’m not gonna make it. I’m not gonna make it through this.” Luke’s eyes widened.  
“What do you mean Rose?” He studied me.  
“I’m out of bullets Luke. I’m dead.” I started crying hysterically, “Just say your goodbye okay. And then I’m gonna walk out there and it will all be over fast. I promise.” Luke shook his head no.  
“Sugar, you and me are going down together. Or not at all.” Luke took all his weapons out of his pocket. He looked back up at me and grabbed my shoulders. “I love you.”  
“I love you too.” I choked out, “I was hoping that one day we would get married.” He dropped his arms and reached out for my hand.  
“That’s what were going to do right now, okay? We’re walking out there to get married.” He slipped a simple, silver ring on my finger. “I was gonna do it when we got out. I had a whole cheesy speech and everything, but lets go get married right now.” I looked him dead in the eyes as he grabbed my hand and pulled us both out into the line of fire. “You may kiss the bride.” He yelled over everything. We both leaned in and shared a last kiss that came too soon. I suddenly felt Luke fall backwards.  
“Luke!” I screamed, then felt something stinging in my chest. I smiled, “Luke, I...”  
-  
(Iris’ POV)  
Only one of their men was left standing, and his gun was pointed straight at my chest. I pulled my trigger, but nothing happened. I was out of bullets. The man fired his gun and I shut my eyes, prepared to be hit. But nothing happened. I opened my eyes, thinking, Is death really this easy?, and saw Michael falling to the ground, ten feet in front of me.  
“Jesus Christ, Michael, no!” I tried to scream, but my voice wouldn’t come out. I dropped my gun and ran over to my twin brother. I knelt down over him, holding onto him. Tears poured down my cheeks as I shut my eyes, trying not to stare at my dying brother. I felt him squeeze my hand and I opened my eyes, tears sticking to my eyelashes. He gave me a small smile and closed his eyes, his hand going slack against mine. I couldn’t find anything to say, I just buried my head in his chest, until I felt at least three or four hands lifting me up. I felt someone wrap their arms around me, Calum. I heard another shot ring out and felt Calum’s grip on my loosen, “Calum!” I screamed, opening my eyes to see him falling to the ground, as he whispered, “Iris” and closed his eyes. I heard another shot, and looked up in time to see Ashton shoot the last guy. He dropped his gun and ran over to me. I was screaming, but no words came out, and tears poured down my face. My two best friends, my boyfriend, my twin, and my little brother were all lying around me, dead. Once the tears stopped running and I could see again, I grabbed Calum’s gun from his cold hand.  
“I love you, Cal.” I choked out, then held the gun to my temple. I shut my eyes and felt a hand touch the gun.  
“Iris, think about this. Is this what he would want you to do?” Ashton whispered. I shut my eyes tighter.  
“Please, Ashton. I need to be with him. Just, put his name on my tombstone.” I whispered, then pulled the trigger.  
The last thing I heard was Ashton screaming, “No!”, and everything was gone.

TEN YEARS LATER (Ashton’s POV)

“Ash, it’s time to go!” Hazel called up the stairs. I put away my computer, I had been watching that superhero preview Iris had made of us for a film class in college. I felt a lump starting to form in my throat and ran down the stairs, grabbing the keys to the car. Hazel and my five year old daughter, Iris Rose, were already in the car, and I started towards the cemetery. I parked by the gate and counted the rows until I got to 16. I raced down it, stopping towards the middle. I saw the three graves, one reading “Luke Hemmings and Rose Smyth-Hemmings”, the next one “Calum Hood and Iris Clifford-Hood”, and the last one, smaller than the other two, “Michael Clifford.” Underneath all of their names, it said something like, “Died with honor, and died with love, they will forever live in the hearts of their family”. I fell to my knees, tears trying to fall as I traced the word “family” under Calum’s name. I felt Hazel sit down next to me, and saw her set flowers down in front of each name. She whispered “I love you” to every name and the tears poured down my cheeks.  
I felt a small hand on my arm, right over the tattoos of a lightning bolt and pokeball Rose had given me, and heard, “Daddy, why are you crying?”  
“You see, Iris Rose,” I looked up at her with a sad smile, “I had these five best friends. They trusted me with their lives, and I led them to their deaths. But they still loved me to the very end.” I took her in my arms and cried.


	3. Alternate Ending

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this ending leads up to the sequel that is currently being written...

(Rose’s POV)

“Shit, there are a ton of them. I think we should back out.” Michael whispered, glancing around the corner.  
“No, this could have a huge payout.” Ashton replied.  
“I just have a bad feeling about this, but okay...” [12]  
We all sat with guns in hand and backs against the walls. Ashton made a motion with   
his free hand and we all quietly crept into the room. He mouthed the words ‘on my count’. Once he got to three we all opened fire, popping up at different intervals to shoot. Ashton told us all to start moving in. Luke and I ran straight in with everything we had, smiling because we knew we were going to win this. Suddenly my gun stopped firing bullets and was firing blanks. I reached to my pocket to pull out more and nothing came out. “Luke!” I screamed and began panicking. We both made it behind a pillar. “Luke, I’m not gonna make it. I’m not gonna make it through this.” Luke’s eyes widened.  
“What do you mean Rose?” He studied me.  
“I’m out of bullets Luke. I’m dead.” I started crying.  
“You dork, just take some of my magazines. Calm down Rose, you’re gonna be fine.” He smiled, “Now go kick some ass.” He winked.  
We all kept shooting until we were sure we heard no return fire. Luke looked down towards Ashton who nodded meaning we all could stand back up. We walked over to the glass case.  
“I honestly thought that it would be. . .bigger.” Calum laughed.  
“It’s just a stupid necklace.” Iris tapped on the glass case.  
“A stupid necklace that is worth 350 million dollars.” Michael started trying to get the case open.  
“Hello boys. Iris, Rose.” A voice that was all too familiar said. Everyone slowly turned around.  
“Hazel?” Ashton asked, astonished.  
“Hey Ash. Surprised?” She smirked.  
“How are you. . .? Why are you here? You said you were sick” He asked.  
“Oh, honey, haven’t you figured it out?” She approached us slowly, carefully stepping over the bodies.  
“What are you talking about, Hazel?” Ashton’s eyes widened a little.  
“Why do you think I would ever even want to date someone like you? I was working for Robert this whole time. It’s a shame he’s gone, but now I won’t have to share the money from the Hope Diamond with him. I can’t believe you didn’t even wonder about how he got into the house. I was being held at the place against my will, I lived in a nice place nearby, that was just a guise. You’re so stupid, Ashton, honestly.” She laughed a little, then shoved Michael out of her way, “I’ll be taking this.” He broke the case and took the diamond, “The police will be here in ten minutes, good luck.” She smiled, walking out the door, putting the diamond in her pocket, all of us too stunned to even stop her.  
“What the fuck just happened?” Rose mumbled.

**Author's Note:**

> So, the first ending is the original one, but the second is a set-up for a sequel because someone asked for one :)  
> Also, we are currently working on the sequel, but it might be a while


End file.
